Follower count is not a business metric. Likes are not a business metric. Neither is reach, impressions, or the number of people who saved your post. These things are nice to see go up, but they don't tell you whether your marketing is actually generating revenue.
Here are the five numbers we track for every client at GC Media, the ones that actually connect marketing activity to business outcomes.
How many people are actually making it from your Instagram or Google to your website? This is tracked in Google Analytics under Acquisition. If you're posting consistently but nobody is clicking through to your site, something in your content or your call-to-action needs to change.
Look at this monthly. A steady upward trend over three to six months is a good sign. A sudden drop usually means something changed. Maybe a post performed poorly, or your posting frequency dropped.
How many people are filling out your contact form, sending you a DM, or calling you each month? This is your most direct measure of whether your marketing is generating business interest. Track it in a simple spreadsheet if nothing else.
More importantly, track where each lead comes from. Knowing that 60% of your leads come from Instagram and 30% come from Google tells you exactly where to put your energy.
If you're spending money on Facebook or Instagram ads, you need to know what you're paying per lead. Divide your monthly ad spend by the number of leads you received. If that number is lower than what a new client is worth to you, your ads are working. If it's higher, something needs to change.
This number will fluctuate, especially in the first few months of running ads. Don't panic over a single bad week. Look at the trend over 60 to 90 days.
Of everyone who visits your website, what percentage actually takes an action: fills out a form, calls you, or books a consultation? If 1,000 people visit your site and only two contact you, the issue might not be your marketing, it might be your website.
A typical service business website should convert somewhere between 1% and 5% of visitors. If yours is consistently below 1%, it's worth looking at your copy, your photos, your call-to-action, and your mobile experience.
This is the big one. Add up everything you spent on marketing in a given month: ad spend, management fees, photography, everything, and divide it by the number of new clients you acquired. That's your cost to acquire a client.
Compare that to the average value of a client to your business. If acquiring a client costs you $200 and they're worth $1,500 to you, your marketing is working very well. If those numbers are close or upside down, something needs to change.
Marketing results take time to compound. Checking your analytics every day leads to overthinking and reactive decisions. Set aside 20 minutes at the end of each month to review these five numbers, note any meaningful changes, and decide if anything needs to be adjusted.
That monthly habit will give you more clarity than most business owners have about whether their marketing is actually working.
We work with Vancouver businesses to create content that actually brings in clients. Let's talk about what that looks like for you.
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